"Monster
Hunter with plot" is how God
Eater was once described to me. Well, after the runaway hit that the Monster Hunter series has turned out to
be, it's no surprise that everyone and their grandmother is out to catch
lightning in a bottle twice with the same formula. So how does the third God Eater game, God Eater 2, hold up?

Good – 3-in-One Weapon

One of the unique features of the God Eater series is the weapon
characters use, the God Arc. A God Arc is like a gigantic Swiss army knife—a close-range weapon, long range gun, and shield all in one.

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Using a God Arc can take a little getting
used to in the beginning, but once you find a type that suits you and you get
the hang of it, combat becomes a lot more fun and engaging.

Good – Jump

This game has a jump button. I should not
have to explain how being able to jump around and over enemies makes for a much
more exhilarating hunting experience, but it really does. Also, by using your
God Arc to literally take a bite out of an enemy, you temporarily gain the ability
to double jump, which is always cool.

Good – Competent AI

Throughout the game, you are introduced to a colorful
variety of companion characters to join you on your missions. They each have
their own weapons of choice and combat styles, but one thing they all share is the
ability hold their own. Most of them also do a good job of watching your back
by offering heals or buffs when you're in need.

If you or a companion falls in battle, someone
else can revive you/them by forking over half their health. In most cases where
this happened, the person being revived tended to be me. Throughout my time
with God Eater 2 I think there were
maybe only 5 or 6 times where I found myself reviving an ally, instead of the
other way around – and it was usually because they had just lost a good chunk
of their health reviving me.

Mixed – Difficulty

God Eater 2 went through a whole lot of fine-tuning and user testing throughout its development. As a result, the game is very well-balanced. The missions get steadily harder as you progress through the game, but never really impossibly so.

It was pointed out to me that while in Monster Hunter you generally go into a mission expecting to lose, in God Eater you generally go into missions expecting to win. I have found that this is very much the case. The game does become challenging as you go along, but never to the point where I felt like throwing my PS Vita across the room. People who expect a hunting game like this to give them a hard time might find it a little lax.

Mixed – Bullet Editing

One feature of the game is that you can customize your God Arc. Aside from the main blade, gun, and shield, you can also customize the bullets you use with the gun mode of your God Arc. This allows you to
create specific bullets for specific types of enemies, or general kick-ass
bullets that you would not be able to use through normal gameplay.

Unfortunately, the bullet customization process
itself is a little confusing and a good deal of it ends up being a lot of trial
and error. It's usually easier to just look around online for how other people
made their own super bullets and copy those instead of spending time developing
your own custom bullet like the developers probably intended.

Mixed – Plot

The game actually has a plot with character
arcs and everything. Granted, the characters aren't really very complex and the twists in the story are for the most part predictable, but there is one and if you let yourself get into it, it's quite fun.

Sometimes the way you have to complete
hunting missions to progress the story can feel a little contrived, and in some
cases like padding, but going on missions with the characters and hunting with them helps to get you engaged and feel empathy for the characters.

Final Thoughts

God
Eater 2 offers a lot in terms of high-pace action
for lovers of the hunting genre. The action is well-balanced and you generally
feel like a badass when you manage to take down some of the tougher prey. If
you've played and enjoyed the previous games, or are on the fence and curious, God Eater 2 is definitely worth checking
out. That said, it doesn't really offer all that much to change the minds of
people who don't like such games.

Side note: The multi-player is fairly
straight-forward, but that experience is usually only as good as you or the
people you're playing with are.

One additional note: the PS Vita version is much prettier than the PSP version.